Electric Vehicles Are A Mood For The Future
Time for the tea on Atlanta’s leap into the future working toward an eco-friendly sustainable world. With Georgia aspiring to be the Detroit ‘Motor City’ of the future, the current trend in Electric Vehicle (EV) sales will only be increasing with the new Inflation Reduction Act Bill. The Bill now gives an EV purchase an up-front tax credit of $7,500 if purchased from a dealer Qualifying Vehicles. Last year alone, Georgia saw a 29% sale increase for EV’s with over 1500 charging stations, mostly in the Atlanta area, available to consumers. Georgia EV drivers number roughly 37,000 ranking the state the tenth-largest concentration of EV’s in the country.
MARTA is taking a seat at the EV table with a 2.6 million dollar grant in 2019 for the purchase of 6 New Flyer Xcelsior battery-operated buses reducing fleet emissions. Launching the EV busses in May of 2022, the busses replaced the diesel version reducing emissions by approximately 935 short tonnes of greenhouse gases MARTA’s Electric Launch. The shear amount of energy saved by these zero emission mass transit vehicles is astounding, comparable to approximately 250 years of gas for the average American car driver. MARTA’s Interim General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood stated, “Our goal is to continue adding electric buses to the fleet to help combat climate change and reduce public health impacts from air pollution, especially in our most vulnerable populations.” MARTA is paving the way for other US cities to follow. MARTA keeps over 185,000 cars off the roads daily with almost half the riders between the ages of 16 and 34.
We know at times riding MARTA can be frustrating but comparing it to the stress of Atlanta traffic and the heath issues associated with climate change and air pollution, it seems a small dot on the map of transition. Here is an interactive map to see the future of your area My City in Years to Come. Turn your commute into self-support time and kick back and enjoy the ride.
Follow our series on the implementation of EV’s for climate change to see how it will benefit our future.
Teresa Perkins is a climate change and sustainability journalist, who is creating research-based climate change content pertaining to sustainable energy at local, national, and global level for publication and distribution. She partners with non-profit organizations for innovative ideas and sustainability projects and connects global UN Climate Change reports to local initiatives.
